Celebrate Easter in Ventspils!

On 20 March, the astronomical winter ends and the astronomical spring begins. Today, the first Easter decorations will be put up around the City to remind you that the celebration is coming.

Where in Ventspils can you take the most beautiful photos with Easter symbols this year? Head to the Big Square, where you'll find two decorative swings with bird shapes and, for the first time this year, children can swing on the balance swing. If you don't know where else to swing this Easter in Ventspils, you'll find the answer in the Ventspils Swing Guide or in the summary by the Tourist Information Centre "Playgrounds in Ventspils 2024". Easter is notable for its rhymes, beliefs and customs. You will find some of the rhymes on the five large eggs in the Big Square. You can recite one of them on 24 March - on Palm Sunday - while gently spanking a family member or a friend with a willow branch to keep everyone healthy.

You'll also find a place for a nice photo at the Town Hall Square where large-format Easter eggs will be set up. You will probably have noticed them at previous celebrations too! This year, however, the students of Ventspils Art School have painted Easter eggs with new illustrations from Herbert Dorbe's stories and poetry as a tribute to the writer's 130th birthday.

If you want to enter the butterfly kingdom, head to the Pārventa Centre. Butterflies are one of the most playful, airy and colourful harbingers of spring. You probably know the saying about the first butterfly colour you see: white means a happy, joyful and good summer. A bright butterfly promises a fun and happy summer. A yellow butterfly promises a hot and sunny summer. Here you will also find the Ventspils Swing Guide, so you can swing properly on Easter.

This year, Easter will be celebrated on 31 March and 1 April. We will start the celebrations from 29 March, from 7.00 to 15.00 and on 30 March, from 8.00 to 15.00, you will be able to buy everything you need for a festive table at the Easter Market (Old Town Market Square), where extended sales will take place.

Easter is unthinkable without colours and eggs, so on 29 and 30 March at 13.00, the Science Centre "Vizium" invites everyone to the workshop "Colourful Easter". The workshop will explore the science of colour - what are colours and why do we see them? There will be various experiments with colours and creative Easter activities.

More information: www.adre.se/darbnicasmarta.

"Easter STEM" will take place on 1 March and 1 April at 13.00. They say you should eat eggs with salt on Easter, but can these ingredients also be used in science experiments? Can egg rolling be done in a more exciting way? Find out the answers in a workshop for the whole family, with exciting experiments, challenges and celebrating together!

More information: www.adre.se/darbnicasmarta.

 Also during the Easter holidays, from 29 March to 1 April, there will be various free events for families and children at the Science Centre VIZIUM - "Creative Easter". More information on the website www.vizium.lv.

On Saturday, 30 March at 18.00, at the Ventspils Culture Centre there will be a concert of the Ventspils Men's Choir "Music Eternal, Flourishing". Concert guests: Durbe Women's Choir "Durbe", Stende Folk House Men's Vocal Ensemble "Stende" and Song Ensemble "Ventiņ".

On 31 March, at 11.00 at the Children's Town and at 15.00 at the Children's Park "Fantāzija", an event for families with children "Bright Easter" will take place. There will also be the popular birdhouse-making event, for which the staff of the Ventspils Communal Administration will provide everything needed - workbenches, boards of different widths, hammers, nails, measuring tapes and, of course, step-by-step instructions. But you are also welcome to bring your own tools from home. Every little birdhouse-maker will be able to take part in a variety of traditional and non-traditional Easter activities. This event is free.

Traditionally, the Easter celebrations will culminate (31 March) at the Seaside Open Air Museum where from 12.00 to 16.00 you will have the opportunity to swing, take part in various amusement activities and enjoy a concert by the band "Tērvete"! Entrance with museum tickets.

At the Theatre House "Jūras vārti" (31 March), at 16.00, Artis Šimpermanis and Māris Blāze are coming to their listeners with new solo albums in the concert programme "Once on the Kurzeme Coast" .

Visit visitventspils.com to find out more about the wide range of events in the City of Ventspils and region.

• Opening hours of Ventspils facilities on Easter 28.03.2024 - 1.04.2024.

• Opening hours of dining establishments on Easter 28.03.2024 - 1.04.2024.